Fines for littering are increasing by 20 per cent to €150 from this week in a new effort by Minister for the Environment John Gormley to crack down on litter louts.
The new on-the-spot fine, which came into force yesterday, has been introduced to combat the "affront" to society of littering and should act as a more powerful deterrent to offenders, Mr Gormley said.
Figures show that of the 27,000 fines of €125 handed down by litter wardens across the State last year, only 12,000 were paid.
Mr Gormley said yesterday that he intended to do everything in his power to minimise litter.
"In order to send out a clear message to all members of society that litter pollution can simply not be tolerated, I have increased the on-the-spot fine. The litter fine increase should serve as a stronger deterrent to those who persist in littering and strengthen the hands of the local authorities in enforcing our Litter Pollution Acts."
The increase coincides with a new report from recycling organisation Repak which found that householders exaggerate the amount of waste they recycle. A recent Repak survey found that adults claim to recycle almost twice as much household rubbish as they actually do.
The 1,000 people surveyed claimed to recycle an average of 40 per cent of their waste. Research from the Environmental Protection Agency shows an actual recycling rate closer to 22 per cent. The Repak study finds that people are overestimating the amount of packaging waste in their bins by 60 per cent and, as a result, are underestimating the amount of biodegradable waste they create.
Those questioned believe packaging waste makes up nearly 40 per cent of their household bin when in reality it is about 25 per cent. Repak chief executive Andrew Hetherington said this could lead householders to concentrate too much on recycling packaging material rather than on composting food waste.
"As our research shows, people are overstating packaging waste and therefore potentially not concentrating on recycling their other wastes such as biodegradable food waste, garden waste, textiles and small electrical goods."
Fewer than a quarter of those surveyed claimed they composted some of their household waste, while 28 per cent claimed to recycle garden waste.
Just 3 per cent said they recycled nothing.
